


Dan. Danny. Daniel.

by MosaicCreme



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-05
Updated: 2016-09-05
Packaged: 2018-08-13 06:35:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7966294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MosaicCreme/pseuds/MosaicCreme
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>[AU] ('Targeted Interference' and 'Assassins Unveiled' universe) Jasmine Shepard decides to see if she can help the man she only knows as 'SandyDan' after reading his plea for help on 'Assassins Unveiled'. 'SandyDan' believes he is being stalked by a batarian assassin and his elcor lover through the Citadel. Jasmine's sure the man's either very high, or very crazy, but can't seem to leave well enough alone. Afraid he might be a danger to himself or someone else, she meets him at the Zakera Cafe, and together they form a plan to catch the batarian assassin.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dan. Danny. Daniel.

**Dan. Danny. Daniel.**

Jasmine chewed on the dry cuticle of her thumb, wincing when she ripped the skin back just a little too far, bringing blood to the surface. She stared at her screen, waiting for ‘SandyDan’ to respond. She’d combed through the time stamps on his post history, working out when he seemed most likely to be online and made sure she’d be waiting when he showed up again.

Obviously, she didn’t believe that a batarian assassin and his elcor lover stalked the man, but she thought maybe he really did believe. If ‘DieForTheCause’ pegged it right, and she thought he might have, ‘SandyDan’ might just be high out of his mind on red sand. Red sand, especially in high enough doses over extended periods of time, would mean hallucinations, paralyzing paranoia, and the unshakable belief that you are the only one who can see the truth. Jasmine counted herself lucky that she never let herself get that consumed, although there were nights where she came damn close.  

_I don’t even know if he is on red sand. Maybe he’s got something else wrong with him. Hell, it might really just be a joke and I’m making an ass out of myself by offering to help. He’s probably staring at his screen laughing his ass off at me right now._

A little red exclamation point popped up over the messages icon on _‘Assassins Unveiled’_. Jasmine blew out a breath and clicked the icon, seeing a message from ‘SandyDan’ waiting for her.

_“You can’t help me, it’s too dangerous. I can’t let anyone else be hurt.”_

Jasmine shook her head. The whole idea reeked of stupidity, and she knew it, but she clicked reply anyway. _“I can help. Really. I’m a PI, and I can keep us both safe. Just tell me where you are?”_

Jasmine set to work, tracing his location through the _‘Assassins Unveiled’_ Extranet Protocol Address log. Long minutes passed, the clacking of her keyboard the only sound breaking the silence. She nodded to herself, confirming that he’d at least told the truth about being on the Citadel. Jasmine glanced occasionally at the little dots at the bottom of the screen bobbing up and down, telling her ‘SandyDan’ still worked on his response. When it finally popped up, Jasmine’s cocked an eyebrow at how little text he actually wrote in all that time.

_“Really? You can help me?”_

Jasmine rolled her eyes. She now knew exactly where on the Citadel to find ‘SandyDan’, but she needed him to tell her and to agree to her meeting him. Either the whole thing would prove to be an elaborate joke, and she’d be blown off …. or a very sick, very paranoid individual sitting in Zakera Cafe desperately wanted someone to help him. If she showed up out of the blue, it’d only make matters worse. _“Yes. Really. Where are you?”_

Jasmine used the extranet trace to tap into the console’s camera, letting the air seep out of her lungs in something that fell somewhere between a sigh and a groan. The filthy, haggard face of human man appear on her screen, sending her heart spiraling into the pit of her stomach. He looked the part, every bit of what she’d expect of ‘SandyDan’. Her heart ached for the man, and yet her nerves settled knowing she wasn’t waiting for the other shoe to drop. There would be no horde of mean-spirited teenagers surrounding her, laughing and pointing at the stupid girl who fell for their joke.

Jasmine tried hard not to be the type to make judgements based on appearances, but she’d seen one too many who looked just like the man, tucked back in alleys, doing their best to chase away their demons with one vice or another. His cobalt eyes didn’t hold the glassy, overly dilated look of a user. Still, they were definitely haunted eyes, sunken with malnutrition and dehydration, set deep in dark circles that screamed of a man desperate for sleep. Her gut told her drugs weren’t the issue, he needed something more than a rehab center to get his head on straight.

She watched him as he slowly worked at the console, stopping every few seconds to look around him frantically. His head would jerk, and he’d wince as if someone had yelled right next to his ear. Jasmine didn’t know what his demons were, but in the end, it didn’t matter. It wasn’t her job to cure him of his ailments, making sure he didn’t hurt himself or someone else was as much as she could let herself be concerned with.

_That’s it. That’s as far as I get involved. Period. You can’t save the whole galaxy, Jasmine._

_“Zakera Cafe. The owner lets me use his console sometimes. Are you on the Citadel, too? I don’t know how long I can wait here. They’re looking for me now.”_

_“I’ll be there in twenty minutes, just stay there, OK?”_ Jasmine turned in her chair, ready to grab her gear and go.

‘SandyDan’ rocked back and forth, twisting and turning in his seat to look around him before nodding emphatically to himself. _“Yeah. Yeah, OK. Thank you. Thank you so much.”_

 _“I’ll see you soon.”_ Jasmine closed the messages and logged out of _‘Assassins Unveiled’_ , closing her laptop.

She reached for her pistol and hesitated, wondering if bringing it with her would set the man off. She let out a sigh and let her shoulders slump, even if it made things dicey, she resolved not to leave without her weapons. Jasmine slipped her arms into her leather jacket after securing her pistol at her back and tucked her knives into her boot. She slapped her palm to the door’s control release, ready to leave before she changed her mind.

_So stupid. So, so, so stupid._

Jasmine stepped outside, locking her apartment door behind her. She made her way to the nearest rapid transit and hailed a cab.

* * *

 

“Oh!” Jasmine took a step back, her palms flying up to ward off the man’s groveling attempt to latch onto her. His dirty blond hair, and greasy hands made her skin crawl just thinking about him touching her. “Alright, ground rules: No touching!”

“Hey, if you know him, can you get him out of here? Please? I told him he had fifteen minutes, it’s been an hour.” The turian behind the counter flicked his mandibles.

“I’m working on it, just give us a minute.” Jasmine raised her eyebrows, adding to her plea for patience. She turned her full attention back to ‘SandyDan’, letting her hands drop back to her sides when he nodded his willingness to play by her rules. Watching him made her feel like startled cat facing down a rabid bulldog. He paced in front of her, his hands and eyes in constant motion, unable or unwilling to simply be still and focus on her. “Dan? Is that your name?”

“Dan. Danny. Daniel. It doesn’t matter.” Dan lurched forward, his hand making a grab for hers. He whimpered when Jasmine stepped to the side, staying out of his reach. “Please. Please you have to believe me. No one will believe me.”

“Hey, Dan? Look at me. Just look at me.” Jasmine softened her voice, hoping it would help calm the man’s nerves. It was the same voice she used to soothe Rift when he came to her apartment in tears, but this wasn’t Rift and he was making the hairs along her neck and arms stand on end. Her instincts yelled at her, telling her this man was dangerous, and she should run. The dull, still fading, ache in her muscles from her hours of training reminded her that she was far more dangerous. “I’m here to help, alright? Why don’t we leave the cafe, okay, since this nice guy has asked us to leave? We can go right out there to that bench and talk, alright?”

Dan whimpered but nodded again, edging his way to the door while his gaze darted around. Jasmine followed a few steps behind him, smiling reassuringly when his eyes met hers. Dan settled down onto the bench a few meters away from the cafe, and Jasmine took a seat, forcing herself to sit close enough that they could speak without being overheard.

* * *

 

“Ramona,” Dan whined, holding the new omni-tool she’d bought him—and then promptly synced to her own before giving it to him to slide on his wrist—up to his face. “Ramona are you still there?”

_Jesus Christ, what am I doing?_

“Yes, Dan, I’m still here. I’m just hiding so they can’t see me, okay? If they see me watching, they may not show themselves.” Jasmine held the omni-tool to her face, doing her best to keep her tone level even though her patience wore thin. “But Dan, if they think that you’re talking to someone, they might stay hidden, too. You need to leave the omni-tool alone, I can still see and hear you. When you see them, just stick to the plan, alright?”

Dan nodded, his mouth twisting into a grimace before quivering. Tears welled up in his eyes, but he closed the screen on the omni-tool and dropped his arm to his side. Seeing him like that made Jasmine hate herself, made her doubt her plan even more. Maybe she should throw the towel in on this one, convince Dan to go with her to C-Sec, and demand that someone there have him committed. He just looked so damn vulnerable and utterly terrified, and he placed his hope and trust in her. Who the hell was she to help him?

Jasmine continued to watch him from the shadows as he paced the ward, moving in and out of shops but never venturing out of her sight for more than a few seconds at at time. They agreed that Jasmine would watch him from cover, and when he saw the batarian assassin, he would signal her through the omni-tool and then walk to the other end of the ward. It would give her a chance to watch the crowd, see if anyone followed him. Then, hopefully, when no one followed him, she would catch back up with him and figure out where to go from there. She had a feeling the ‘where to go from there’ would be straight to C-Sec, but she at least wanted to be able to say to herself that she was sure it was the right thing to do.

The back of Jasmine’s neck prickled, unease settling down between her shoulder blades as eons of evolutionary instincts informed her there was another predator on the prowl, and she might just be its prey. She took her eyes from Dan long enough to make a quick pass over the surrounding area. Just as she was about to glance behind her, the now familiar scent of _cinuela_ tickled her nose bringing with it an unexpected calm.

Jasmine smiled, returning her eyes to Dan. “Afternoon, Krios.”

“Shepard.” Thane stepped up beside her, close enough that Jasmine could feel the heat pouring off of his body. “Has the Alliance decided that the mentally ill are now a threat to be executed by your hand?”

Jasmine scoffed, turning to take in his face soaked in shadows; cursing herself for the jolt her heart gave her when she laid eyes on him. She leaned a little deeper against the wall, praying the extra centimeters of distance between the two of them would chase away the kaleidoscope of butterflies that suddenly took up residence in her stomach. “He’s not a target.”

Thane smiled and turned his head to meet her gaze. “No, he’s ‘SandyDan’, and you’ve come to help him.”

Jasmine snorted and turned her attention back to Dan. “I didn’t expect you to still be surveilling _‘Assassins Unveiled’_.” Jasmine put the breaks on her spiraling thoughts before she got swept up in trying to ferret out what he might’ve seen of her conversations on the extranet site.

What started out as research had somehow turned into Jasmine’s dirty secret. She actually enjoyed reading the articles and bullshitting with a few of the more frequent members. Of course, she told herself she only stuck around to continue to monitor the site for anymore signs that someone knew too much about her or Thane. If she found anything about herself, she’d have to either report it or remove it herself. Phantom protocol said she needed to report it, but there was a lot Jasmine did these days that went against protocol. Namely, associating with the freelance assassin standing next to her. If she found anything about him, well then all the better to use as leverage.

“Indeed. It’s told me quite a bit about you.” Thane chuckled.

Jasmine looked at him long enough to roll her eyes. “You don’t believe what I say there really says anything about who I am.”

“No, but the persona you have chosen, does.” Thane cocked his head to the side, studying her.

Jasmine smirked and shook her head, refusing to take the bait and ask him what exactly ‘TellMeNow360’ told him about Jasmine Shepard. Dan stepped out of Citadel Souvenirs and stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes wide in terror. Jasmine pushed off of the wall, her shoulder brushing against Thane’s before he shifted away from her. She followed Dan’s line of sight and saw nothing of interest, certainly not a batarian or his elcor lover. Dan trembled visibly, failing to signal Jasmine through his omni-tool and instead turned tail and ran.

_No, no, no! You’re supposed to walk, just walk. Damn it!_

“Shit.” Jasmine growled, her muscles tensing, preparing to chase after the man when a flurry of motion drew her attention back to the area Dan had been fixated on.

“Shepard.” Thane’s voice danced at the fringes of her consciousness.

“I see him.” Jasmine took a step back, deeper into the shadows as another man ran past her location. She never expected for anyone to actually follow Dan, and now it was a foot race. She couldn’t take him down out in the open, and running through a crowd would definitely make her stand out. She had to follow from the catwalks. It was her only chance of getting ahead of them both.

“Ramona! Ramona, help! Help!” Dan’s voice broke through her omni-tool, strangled and gasping for air.

“I’m coming, Dan. Just follow the plan!” Jasmine kicked off the wall, flinging herself at the ladder.

* * *

 

Jasmine’s heart pounded in her chest, even as the balls of her feet barely whispered against the metal grating of the catwalk. The initial spark of surprise that came with realizing Thane followed her up the ladder, was soon replaced with a miffed determination as he passed her by, pressing in on her target. Jasmine kept her snarl internal as she pushed herself to move faster, willing her feet to remain silent.

She grinned, the delicious taste of victory heady on her tongue as Thane ran past her turnoff point. He didn’t know the plan. Jasmine veered right, if Dan was able to pull it together enough to stick to remember what he needed to do, she would be at their rendezvous point before Dan made it there. If he didn’t … well, she didn’t want to think about that.

* * *

 

“I’m here, Dan. I’m here, keep coming. You can do this.” Jasmine urged between deep breaths, forcing oxygen through her system and calming her heart rate after the unexpected cardio.

She was on the ground again, her back pressed against the wall of an alley at the end of the ward. Pedestrian traffic all but nonexistent down there, it gave her the perfect spot for an ambush. She peered around the edge of the wall in time to spot Dan rounding the corner, red faced and truly running for his life. She scanned the catwalks above him, unable to spot Thane, if he was even there. She turned her attention back to Dan, now just a dozen meters away.

The bear of a man following him turned the corner, arms pumping at his sides. Faster than Dan and gaining ground, he’d be on him in seconds. If he was the subject of Dan’s fear all this time, the muse for his hallucination, why would he attack Dan now? All he’d been doing was following Dan, scaring the shit out of him. Clearly, if he had any intention of hurting Dan, he would’ve done so by now. So, what’s his game? Jasmine steeled herself for the fight, determined to find out.

Dan flew past her, making it a good five meters before he glanced back and spotted Jasmine. He slowed to a stop, his chest heaving and looking like he might just pass out. Jasmine turned her attention back to his pursuer, the mystery man closing in. The muscles in Jasmine’s legs flexed, her foot pivoting, ready to engage her target.

The man rounded the corner, and just as Dan yelped, Jasmine sprung into action. Stepping into the man’s path and grabbing his arm, she used his own momentum to redirect him into the wall. He ricocheted off the wall, back into Jasmine who was ready and waiting. Crouching low, she swept his legs out from under him, letting him fall to his back. He was big, a lot bigger than her, and she was going to have to take every advantage she could. Getting him to the ground helped level the playing field, giving her the leverage she needed to wrap her thighs around his neck, locking her ankle behind her knee and flexing.

The man clawed Jasmine’s shin at his throat, cutting off circulation to his brain. He flailed, throwing his fists back in a desperate attempt to catch her somewhere vital enough to make her let go. Jasmine rolled to her side, forcing him over to his and making it harder for him to catch her with his last feeble attacks as consciousness slowly slipped away.

“No!” Dan roared.

Someone slammed into Jasmine, nearly knocking the wind from her. She scrambled to right herself, refusing to release her target as she tried to locate and assess the new threat. Her hand slid around the familiar grip of her pistol, and she pulled it from the holster. She found Dan, looming over her, wild panic in his eyes as he reared back, ready to punch her in the face. Jasmine raised her pistol, aiming squarely between Dan’s eyes. Mercifully, he stopped, fist still raised.

“Dan?” Jasmine felt the assailant go limp beneath her, and she released the pressure. Slowly dislodging her foot from behind the opposite leg, she pushed herself back, maneuvering to her feet in a crouch. “What are you doing, Dan?”

Her peripheral vision alerted her to Thane dropping to the ground behind Dan, soundless as he crept toward the crazed man. Jasmine kept her eyes glued to Dan, unwilling to risk being caught unaware again or give away Thane’s position. Dan backed up a step, oblivious to death waiting at his back. Jasmine eased herself into a standing position, her gun steady.

“I … I’m sorry. Ramona, I’m sorry. Just don’t kill him, please!” The panic started to subside, leaving behind a lucidity in Dan’s eyes that wasn’t there before. “I know—he’s my nephew.” Dan’s shoulders shook, a heart wrenching sob tearing its way through his chest as his arm fell limply to his side. “Dear God, he’s my nephew.”

Jasmine’s eyebrows twitched, her lips parting just enough to suck in a quick stream of air. She lowered her pistol, moving her finger away from the trigger. “Why were you running from him? You called for help!”

“I—” Dan shook his head. “I thought he was … dear God, he looked just like … I didn’t realize … .” Dan lifted his hands, scrubbing them over his face.

Jasmine took advantage of the moment, glancing at Thane and giving him a brief shake of her head. He dipped his head in return, stepping back into the shadows and away from Dan. Jasmine holstered her pistol and moved around the unconscious form of Dan’s apparent nephew, showing Dan her empty hands when he brought his gaze back to her.

“I’m not going to kill him. I just knocked him out, to help you, remember?.” Jasmine edged a little further back, putting plenty of space between herself and both the unconscious man—who already began to stir—and his unstable uncle. “The plan wasn’t to kill him, right?”

_Why the hell did I get in the middle of this shit?_

Jasmine wanted nothing more than to get the hell out of there, but she didn’t feel right about leaving before his nephew was back on his feet. Dan, even if coherent for the moment, and clearly very confused about who was following him, still needed help. The man on the ground stirred again, rolling to his back and sucking in air before coughing it back out again.

“Ronnie!” Dan moved to kneel next to his nephew, struggling to lift the man’s bulk from the ground, getting as far as pulling his head and shoulders into his lap.

Ronnie coughed into his fist again. She knew the moment his vision cleared, because Ronnie fell perfectly still for one heartbeat. His eyes locked on Jasmine as he scrambled to his feet, launching himself forward. Jasmine had her pistol back out and ready, stopping the bulldozer in his path before he could smash into her.

“Ronnie! No, she’s just trying to help.” Dan pulled at his nephew’s bulging bicep.

_Christ, this guy is big._

Thane shifted in the shadows a few feet away, the movement only registering with her on a primitive level. Ronnie stopped, his head whipping back and forth between Dan and Jasmine. If for being twice her size and ready to crush her, she might have found the dazed look on Ronnie’s face comical, instead she used the distraction to holster her pistol and made a leap for the ladder.

Jasmine glanced across the catwalk, catching sight of Thane on the opposite side before looking down over the edge at Dan and Ronnie. “You need some real help, Dan. Let your nephew get you some help.”

Tears streamed down Dan’s face as he looked up at her, his hand still clutching his nephew’s arm as he nodded. “Thank you, Ramona. Thank you.”

Jasmine felt Ronnie’s eyes burning holes in the back of her skull as she retreated into the darkness, moving further down the catwalk. She glanced over her shoulder to see Ronnie wrap his arms around his uncle before she turned the corner, leaving them and Thane behind.


End file.
